


The Waterfall

by Beleriandings



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-11
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2018-02-12 15:57:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2115915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fingon and Maedhros are enjoying a relaxing day by the riverside, alone for once. Perhaps they should pay more heed to the typical behaviour of rotted wood, and the proximity of waterfalls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Waterfall

“You could very well put a mill here” said Maitimo, indicating the short fall of water before them. “Imagine a water wheel just there” – he gestured towards the side of the falls – “spinning as the water falls on it… you don’t happen to have a piece of paper and a pencil, do you?” They sat on a little wooden dock that jutted out into the river, some distance upstream.

“Do I look like I have a piece of paper and a pencil?” Findekáno stretched luxuriantly, lying back against the cracked and bleached wood and basking in the full light of Laurelin. “You know how it looks to me?” He opened one eye a crack, peering up at Maitimo. “That pool down below the falls looks wonderful for swimming in. Deep and clear and deserted.” He grinned. “Imagine the two of us in that pool, having shed our clothes on the side of the - ”

“Fin, there’s a waterfall in the way” said Maitimo, trying to sound alarmed, but there was an affectionate smile on his face. “It’s a sheer drop. The cliff runs in both directions, and I don’t see a way down. But yes” he gave a regretful sigh, leaning over Findekáno and looking down at him, letting the ends of his hair tickle Findekáno’s cheeks the barest fraction. “That does sound wonderful.”

“Stop that” Findekáno purred. He sat up suddenly, forcing Maitimo to draw back, but Findekáno seized the sides of his head, pulling him in for a forceful kiss. Maitimo, having flailed his arms for a moment and recovered his balance, leaned into the kiss. His hands knotted in Findekáno’s wild mass of dark curly hair, revelling in not having to hide for once.

“Mmm, Maitimo” said Findekáno indistinctly, before breaking the embrace, grinning. “We’re not in a double locked and bolted room with all the windows barricaded. I’m surprised at you.”

“Don’t blame me! Blame extraordinarily perceptive parents combined with a small horde of younger brothers, plus of course the desire to not get  _you_ into trouble!”

“Not getting  _me_  into trouble?” Findekáno laughed. “You mean to say your glowing reputation and position as the darling of the Ñoldorin court and the rising star of Tirion’s intellectual circle has nothing - ”

“Findekáno.” Maitimo took Findekáno’s face in his hands, forcing him to look him in the eye, searching his face. “Is that… is that really what you think of me?”

Findekáno shrugged, looking somewhat guilty as he saw the flash of vulnerability in Maitimo’s pale silver eyes. He sighed, brushing away a few errant strands of hair that had fallen over Maitimo’s brow, now creased with a tiny frown. “No. I suppose… well, sometimes it does seem like that. A little” he admitted.

Maitimo’s frown deepened. “I must seem like a bit of an insufferably pretentious ass sometimes.”

“No!” Findekáno found himself laughing a little, “I mean yes, everyone in your family can have  _occasional_ moments of being an insufferably pretentious ass…” he ducked, cackling as Maitimo made to swipe at his head. “But I still love you, for all that.”

Maitimo rolled his eyes, but his face softened. “Thank you for that vote of confidence Fin. Now I feel  _much_  better.”

Findekáno pulled himself on top of Maitimo, straddling his lap and playfully pushing him down as he tried to sit up, pinning his hands down to the wooden slats below them. The dock shuddered precariously in the current. “Fin…” began Maitimo, “I don’t think this is structurally - ”

“Shh” said Findekáno, kissing Maitimo and grinding their hips together until Maitimo released a little gasp. Findekáno smiled at that. “Everything will be - ”

But at that moment his words were drowned in an awful groaning, splintering sound from the legs of the platform beneath them, and before either of them could grasp at the shore, the corner of the dock was splashing into the water, listing violently beneath them in the strong current.

“Fin!” cried Maitimo, clinging to the rotted wood with the fingertips of one hand, the other trapped awkwardly beneath Findekáno who was scrambling to keep his grip and avoid falling into the river, “take hold of my - ”

There was a loud crack from the single strut that held the platform to the shore, and before either of them could say another word, the dock had detached from the bank entirely and was bobbing in the stream, bucking and yawing beneath them as the eddies caught at it.

“Findekáno, the waterfall!” shouted Maitimo as they tried futilely to paddle upstream with their hands. “We need to jump off and swim!”

“No!” said Findekáno, raising his voice above the roaring. “It’s too late, we’d be swept over anyway.” He gestured at the dock with his free hand. “Safer to do it on this. Hold on, Maitimo!”

“ _Are you insane?_ We’ll be killed!”

“It’s only a small drop, really, we can do it, we need to just stay – aaaaaaargh!”

The two of them clung together, yelling in wordless terror, as the river dropped away beneath them with a horrifying lurch. Suddenly they were hitting the surface, an almost solid mass of churning, roaring water, wood splintering beneath them. The water was cold, and it hit Findekáno with a force that knocked the breath from his lungs, water below him and above him, thrusting him helplessly downwards as he was caught in the falls. His hands were torn from Maitimo’s, and he tried to call out but only succeeded in inhaling a mixture of water and air that made him convulse with coughing, the fierce current pulling him downwards. There was no possibility of swimming; Findekáno was a strong swimmer, but the force of the waterfall tugged and twisted his arms painfully, sent him spinning, coughing and breathing in yet more water as he struggled to drag himself from the whirling torrent.

He kicked desperately, but there was churning water in every direction, and he no longer knew which way was up… water streamed in through his nose and mouth as his bursting lungs forced his lips apart. The last thing he saw was a broken plank of wood come hurtling towards his head, before white stars exploded in his vision, and all went dark.

———

Maitimo felt his hand brush something solid and he clung to it, relief flooding him. It was a clump of grass, he realised as his head broke the surface. The bank. He pushed sodden hair out of his eyes, hauling himself onto solid ground with difficulty before looking around him.

“Findekáno?”

He had expected that Findekáno would have pulled himself out more quickly, would be searching for him even; Findekáno was the stronger swimmer, always the first to jump in the water and drag out any cousin, sibling, friend or stranger who seemed to be in trouble…  _had Findekáno thought he needed saving? Had he made some foolish attempt…_ Maitimo scanned the surface of the pool, panic rising in him his throat like hot bile.

_“Fin! Findekáno!”_

There was no response.

Maitimo did not even think; he did not have to. He simply took a running dive into the centre of the pool, bobbing up and ducking down again, glancing hurriedly around beneath the surface. He could see little by the falls for the churning of the water, and yet he could not see Findekáno on the flat bottom of the calmer part of the pool. He grimaced, staring at the falling water. He remembered his father reprimanding Tyelkormo for playing by just such a waterfall…  _for the undertow is treacherous, it can suck you down…_ Maitimo set his jaw, dragging himself back onto the shore and peering desperately down into the clear depths, looking for some sign, anything…

_There._

It had been a glint of something gold, he was certain of it, bright against the slick black rock.  _It had to be the gold in Findekáno’s hair braids, it could be nothing else…_  before his mind could fill with more nightmarish visions, Maitimo began to edge around behind the falling water, with the utmost caution. There was a little concavity, not quite a cave, but there was a small pool, and the water there did not churn quite so much. If he could make it through… he braced himself, clinging to the rock as the water thundered down over him, and then he was through. Sounds echoed oddly here, the roaring low and hollow. Taking a breath, he ducked below the surface and reached out, half-blind, for the approximate spot where he had seen the glint of gold. His fingertips brushed something soft, yielding, long tendrils of…  _hair?_  He smiled to himself, pressing forwards. Sure enough, he was touching fabric, skin… a familiar figure, lying frighteningly still.

He seized Findekáno by the shirt, looping an arm around his chest and feeling the tug of the current, their wet hair and clothes threatening to drag them down. With an effort, he dragged them both from the water and onto the warm, grassy bank of the pool, turning Findekáno over onto his back. He could feel a pulse, but saw no sign of breathing… Maitimo was just about to lower his mouth to Findekáno’s to breath into him, when suddenly Findekáno was jerking into sudden consciousness, sitting up with such force that it unbalanced Maitimo, their foreheads knocking together and causing Maitimo to fall painfully backwards into the mud. Hunched over, Findekáno coughed out a great gout of river water, spluttering and taking greedy gulps of air. Maitimo held him, rubbing Findekáno’s back in small circles and sweeping the copious amounts of dripping hair from off his face. His fingers came away red, and he cried out in alarm. “Fin! You’re bleeding!”

“Only a little” said Findekáno indistinctly, breathing hard and raggedly. He gestured at the water. “One of those planks of wood hit me.”

“Let me look at your head.”

Findekáno looked up at Maitimo, letting him smooth back the hair plastered to his forehead and examine the cut in consternation. “So?” said Findekáno after a while, his voice still husky. “How bad is it?”

“There’s some blood, but not as much as I thought… it seems a shallow cut” said Maitimo, relief washing over him. “Let’s get you back to Tirion, take you to a healer to check for concussion, but I think you should be alright. Nothing else hurts?”

Findekáno shook his head.

“You’re sure nothing is broken?”

“I’m fairly certain.”

“Only  _fairly_?”

“Alright then, very certain, if makes you happy. Stop  _fussing_ , Maitimo. I’m fine. Really.”

Maitimo let out the breath he had not realised he had been holding and knelt beside Findekáno, pulling him into a swift embrace. “You had me worried there Fin, you really did. I thought…”

“It doesn’t matter, Maitimo. I’m alright now, honestly.”

“You didn’t seem alright! The undertow - ”

Findekáno rolled his eyes. “You sound like your father, with his hydrodynamical theories. I promise to try my hardest to avoid getting us into situations like this if you promise not to lecture me on undertow. Do we have a deal?”

Maitimo smiled ruefully. “We have a deal. I suppose.”

“Good.” Findekáno looked Maitimo up and down, his mouth quirking up at the corners. “Now what if I were to council you, for your own safety, to take off those wet clothes…?”

Maitimo had to laugh, but Findekáno was unabashed. “What? I just endured an extremely traumatic near-death experience; I could be keeping company with Námo right now! Instead I’m here with you, and much better it is too. Besides, I woke up too early… you were interrupted in something…” He pulled Maitimo to him for a long, lingering kiss.

“Fin, I was about to try to resuscitate you before, just for your information…”

Findekáno shrugged and kissed him again, Maitimo clinging to him in relief. Findekáno pulled away.

“You taste like river water.”

“So do you!”

For a moment they stared at each other, and then burst into sudden laughter. “Come on” said Maitimo, when their mirth had subsided. “Let’s get back to the city.”

Findekáno feigned regret. “Oh, the sad fate we must endure, losing an opportunity for some unclothed swimming in this deserted, delightful pool!”

“Findekáno. We both could have drowned in this delightful pool, and also you’re  _bleeding from the head_. Or had you forgotten that part?”

Findekáno passed a hand over his face, trying not to laugh. “Ai, Maitimo, I am near slain. Sweep me into your arms and carry me home. Be my gallant saviour!”

Maitimo rolled his eyes, standing up himself before helping Findekáno to his feet. “Come on, I think we’ve both had quite enough of that sort of thing for one day. Let’s go home.”


End file.
